Paper slipper



July 5, 1960 A. A. MEISTER PAPER SLIPPER Filed Oct. 11, 1956 f 171/5 17 [Ur 4455/97 A MUTE/P atent thine Fatented July 5, 1960 PAPER sLmPEn Albert A. Meister, River Forest, 111., assignor to Bagcraft Corporation of America, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed Oct. 11, 1956, Ser. No. 615,311

2 Claims. (Cl. '36--9) This invention relates to a disposable paper shoe or slipper.

More specifically, this invention relates to a disposable paper shoe which may be constructed from a single unitary blank of paper or from two blanks and which may be assembled by heat-sealing means. The blank or blanks from which the shoe or slipper is constructed is divided, by folding or seams, into panels which define a sole, an upper toe portion which surrounds the toes and instep of the wearer, and a central band which mates integrally with the upper portion in order to form an instep hand, all secured together by means such as heatsealing.

Disposable paper slippers generally have utility in connection with public showers, clubs, swimming pools, hotel rooms, medical clinics, doctors offices, and the like. They are usually provided free of charge by the management of such a place for the convenience of guests. As such it is common to use them as remembrance advertising, the slippers carrying appropriate imprints. Also, they are used with novelty designs thereon and find broad acceptance as a gift item. In the past, it has been common to construct such disposable slippers out of two pieces of paper, one representing the upper portion and one the sole portion, stitched together at their common perimeter. It has also been common in the past to manufacture such slippers using die-cut paper so as to produce a shape which approximates that of the human foot. Further, it has been common in the past for the trailing edge of the upper portion of the slipper to cut into the instep of the foot of the wearer and also for such paper to tear at that edge.

The present invention now provides an improved structure which embodies the same basic objectives but with further improvements. This structure permits the choice of use of a single unitary, blankpieceof paper or of two blanks in constructing the slipper. The unitary blank is divided by folding into. panels which define a sole, an upper portion which is integral with the forward portion of the sole and is folded over it, a centrally disposed transverse band which is integral with the edge of the upper portion which edge will bear against the instep of the wearer, this band being made by folding inward a panel from the upper portion, all combined by a heatsealing means at the joint edges of the sole. A seam may be substituted for the fold between the sole and upper portion, two blanks being thereby used.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a disposable slipper constructed from paper which slipper is somewhat simpler in design and lower in cost than has been heretofore available.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a structure for a disposable slipper which may be manufactured automatically.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a structure for a disposable slipper wherein tearing of the upper portion at the instep and cutting of the instep by the paper are both prevented.

Still another object of this invention is the provision of a disposable slipper which is readily imprintable for use as an advertising media.

A further object is to provide a disposable slipper, which may be assembled by heat-sealing, gluing or other equivalent means whereby sewing may be eliminated.

Another object is the provision of a generally rectangular slipper whereby the expense of arcuately die-cutting a blank may be eliminated.

Other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the attached drawings, which, by way of a preferred embodiment and several alternate variations, illustrate the invention.

On the drawings:

Figure l is a perspective view of a form of disposable slipper shown as it is being worn;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the blank used in making the slipper of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the assembled slipper illustrated in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a plan view of a blank for making an alternate form of this invention;

Figure 5 is the assembled view of the slipper made from the blank of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a further modification illustrating how the slipper of Figure 1 could be contoured or shaped; and

Figure 7 is an illustration of how the slipper of Figure 5 may be modified where contouring or shaping is desired.

As shown in the drawings:

The slipper of the present invention includes a blank such as is shown in Figure 2. The figure illustrates a portion of an elongated web having longitudinal edges extending parallel to a pair of prospective fold lines 10 and 13. The broken lines transverse to the lines 10 and 13 represent prospective lines of severance, each defining between them a slipper blank. This blank is folded at line It) to define a sole portion 11 and an upper portion 12. The blank is further folded at line 13. Fold line 13 permits the end of the blank to be folded back over the upper portion so as to produce an instep band 14.

When the blank has been folded at lines 13 and It as shown in Figure 3, heat-sealing may be applied to the marginal portions 15, 16 along the longitudinal edges of the upper portion and the underlying sole. The term longitudinal edges as used hereafter refers to those longitudinal margins of the upper portion and of the sole which are utilized in sealing such portions together.

While heat-sealing means is considered to be the preferred form of bonding, ordinary gluing would be considered an inferior equivalent. Gluing has the disadvantage that a seam might become dissolved more readily in the presence of moisture or high relative humidity. Of course a water-resistant glue would be equivalent to the preferred form of bonding.

Any paper having suitable dry and wet strengths and bonding ability may be utilized for the material out of which the slippers are made; however, regard should be given to its ability to receive imprints.

When the slipper is worn as shown in Figure 1, there will be a tendency for the sole to fold up around the contour of the foot and hence to keep the slipper on snugly.

It will also be readily appreciated that the leading edge of the upper portion produced by fold 13 will serve to strengthen the edge and to dull it, thus making the leading edge more resistant to tearing and also providing a relatively smooth or rounded edge which will not cut the instep of the wearer. Of course, it will be appreciated that the Figure 3 structure can be made with a cut in place of a fold at numeral 10. In such construction, the blank consists of two parts, one the sole 11, and the other the upper portion 12 with its integral in step band 14. Such structure is advantageous when various imprinted combinations are to be manufactured. If desired, a heat seal or water-resistant glue seal may be applied along the edge indicated by. numeral in Figure 3.

Figure 4 illustrates an alternate form of blank which has fold lines and 21 defining the sole 22, the upper portion 23 and the instep band 24. A slit at permits the folding of instep band 24 over the upper portion which is then folded over the sole portion in the manner illustrated in Figure 5. Heat-sealing means are applied at the longitudinal edge or margin 26 which unites the upper portion to the sole. It is readily noted that the structure of Figure 5 has an open toe and has only one heat-sealed edge. When this structure is manufactured from a continuous strip, it is contemplated that the iongitudinal distance between edge 27 and edge 28 shall be exactly one half the longitudinal distance between edge 27 and edge 29. In such manner, generally similar slippers to that shown in Figure 3 can be made from a continuous strip without removing any material as is also the case for the Figure 3 structure.

While the iigure 1 structure has been shown to be rectangular, and while this form is preferable since diecutting operations are eliminated, should it be desired to shape the profile, such extra material may be removed in the manner illustrated by an assembled slipper shown in Figure 6. A sole 11a has connected thereto directly at the toe the upper portion 12a which carries instep portion 14a. Heat-sealing means are applied at 15a and 16a as before.

Figure 7 illustrates how the structure of Figure 5 may be modified to provide a shaped slipper. The sole 22a has a laterally attached upper portion 23a which carries an integral instep band 24a. Heat-sealing means are applied at 26a to seal the marginal edges.

Instep bands 14, 24, 14a and 24a may be folded as shown in each of the drawings so that they lie interior of the slipper. If preferred, they may also be folded externally so that the free edges are lying uppermost. However, the internal folding is preferred, not only from the standpoint of appearance, but also so that the edge might cooperate in holding the slipper to the foot.

The forms shown in Figures 3, 5, 6 and 7 may readily be manufactured by first cutting the blank, providing the necessary folding, followed by applying the desired heat seals. Depending of course upon the machinery available, a preferred method of manufacture would be to do the folding first, followed by the heat sealing and then the cutting. Thus where the slipper blanks are in side-by-side relation in the stock before cutting, seals 15 of one slipper and 16 of the adjacent slipper may be applied by a single means. The subsequent cutting would be centered in the seal, thereby defining seal 15 of one slipper and seal 16 of the adjacent slipper being produced. An alternate to this preferred method would be to follow the folding by the cutting and then the heat sealing.

As used herein, the term bonded includes heat-sealing and gluing, but excludes stitching and integral connections or folds.

As used in these methods, the word cutting includes shaping, where so indicated by the structures.

It will be understood that other modifications and variations may be effected without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the present invention, but it is understood that this application is to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a disposable slipper having a paper sole and a flat upper portion of paper integral with and overlying said sole and joined thereto at its longitudinal edges, said upper portion having a straight transverse edge extending directly between said longitudinal edges and disposed to be adjacent to the instep of the wearer, the improvement of a continuous narrow paper instep band both coextensive with and integral with said transverse edge and disposed in flatwise abutting relation throughout the transverse length of said instep hand against said upper portion, whereby said transverse edge is dull to preclude cutting the instep of the wearer.

2. In a disposable slipper having a paper sole and a flat upper portion of paper integral with and overlying said sole and joined thereto at its longitudinal edges, said upper portion having a straight transverse edge extending directly between said longitudinal edges and disposed to be adjacent to the instep of the wearer, the improvement of a continuous smooth narrow paper instep band both coextensive with and integral with said transverse edge and disposed in flatwise abutting relation throughout the transverse length of said instep hand against the inner surface of said upper portion, said band extending forwardly within the slipper and terminating with a continuous forward edge thereof disposed for engaging the wearers foot, whereby said transverse edge is dull to preclude cutting the instep of the wearer, and. said forward edge is disposed to hold the slipper on the wearers foot.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 787,481 Thiemann Apr. 18, 1905 1,604,954 Artz Nov. 2, 1926 2,271,714 Ray Feb. 3, 1942 2,313,433 Golden Mar. 9, 1943 2,330,015 Stokes Sept. 21, 1943 2,457,573 Levin Dec. 28, 1948 2,627,126 France Feb. 3, 1953 2,721,399 Emmer Oct. 25, 1955 2,764,823 Struble et al. Oct. 2, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 10,329 Switzerland May- 31, 1895 

